Management of the Natural Environment and Security installs 300 baits with biocide in the Central Park of Adeje after detecting a focus of subterranean termites (Reticulitermes flavipes). In this green area of 16,395 square meters located in the urban area of Adejero, they will also place a thousand control stakes to determine the perimeter that is affected.
“We are not going to spare any effort to stop this new outbreak of termites,” said the president of the Cabildo, Pedro Martín, who assured that “experience shows us the resistance of this pest to be able to be eradicated and, therefore, the need to that public administrations mobilize immediately. He recalled that the Cabildo and the Government of the Canary Islands have invested more than two million euros “and we are going to continue increasing the economic items to fight against a plague that, if not controlled, can affect homes, historical heritage or vegetation.”
The Councilor for Ecological Transition, Manuel Luis Méndez, explained that the competent administrations were informed of the presence of termites in the urban park since a municipal engineer detected them. «The coordination between the institutions is permanent and daily. The City Council staff is following the instructions of the expert teams to tackle this situation.
The problem is recorded in an urban park closed to the public to develop a productive forest project. “The affected area has not yet been determined exactly, but the presence of insects is located within an urban area, which significantly reduces the risk of affecting the natural environment,” said the island councilor for Natural Environment Management. Isabel Garcia. The initial estimate of the experts indicates that the colony is between eight and five years old. It is considered that the termite arrived in some plant.
Activated all the intervention protocols of the Insular Plan for the Eradication of Subterranean Termites from the discovery, measures were applied to prevent the spread of the plague to other parts of the municipality. Among them, restrict access to the affected area, control the transit of goods and prohibit the removal of plant debris from the park.
The Cabildo uses around two million euros to attack this problem and applies more than 20,000 control points. Thus, it has eliminated more than 500 termite outbreaks in Tenerife, of the 8,192 baits installed with biocide. Likewise, it has installed 12,386 wooden stakes to detect the presence of Reticulitermes flavipes and more than 8,000 stations with the biocide in the points infected by the plague. In addition, an early detection and rapid intervention system allows any citizen to notify the possible presence of the species.
